Cloud-based analytics for water heaters

A remote water heater monitoring system configured to communicate with a plurality of client water heaters over a network, wherein each of the client water heaters services a corresponding client building, the remote water heater monitoring system including a plurality of client accounts wherein each of the client water heaters is associated with a particular client account, the remote water heater monitoring system comprising:

• a communications port that is configured to operatively communicate with a plurality of client water heaters, and to receive data related to the operation of a plurality of client water heaters;
• a memory for storing the received data related to the operation of the plurality of client water heaters;
• a controller operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the controller includes a processor for processing at least some of the received data related to the operation of the plurality of client water heaters and to:
• identify one or more baseline health parameters over time using the received data from two or more of the client water heaters;
• based on the identified one or more baseline health parameters, identify an indication of health of a particular one of the client water heaters using the received data;
• generate an alert for the particular one of the client water heaters when the indication of health meets one or more alert conditions;
• associate the alert with the client account that corresponds to the particular one of the client water heaters;
• and
• provide access to the alert via the client account that corresponds to the particular one of the client water heaters.

A remote water heater monitoring system, comprising:

• a communications port for sending and/or receiving data related to operation of two or more water heaters over a network;
• a memory for storing the received data related to the operation of the two or more water heaters;
• a controller operatively coupled to the communications port and the memory;
• and
• wherein the controller processes the received data related to the operation of the two or more water heaters to identify one or more trends over time related to water heater performance and/or water heater reliability, and based on the identified one or more trends, identify for a particular water heater one or more of:
• (1) an abnormality in the operation of the particular water heater using the received data;
• and (2) a suggested action to improve the performance of the particular water heater using the received data;
• wherein the controller generates an alert when an abnormality is identified in the operation of the particular water heater;
• and
• the controller associates the alert with a client account of the remote water heater monitoring system that corresponds to the particular water heater, and provides access to the alert via the client account that corresponds to the particular water heater.